Rao Sahib Abraham Pandithar (2 August 1859 – 31 August 1919) was a Tamil musicologist, composer, medical doctor and a traditional medicine practitioner from Sambavar Vadakarai of Tirunelveli District (Then Kollam district), who is celebrated for his patronage of numerous Tamil musicians and his influential studies concerning the origins and evolution of traditional Tamil music.

After completing his studies he went to Tanjore and worked as a Tamil teacher in Lady Napier Girls School.

[1] The publication of Silapathikaram by U. V. Swaminatha Iyer in 1892, made Pandithar interested in Tamil music and he started studying it.

In 1917, he published his research into Tamil music as Karunamirdha Sagaram, a 1346-page book, that remains a seminal work in the field till today.

His family continued his research - His son Varaguna Pandiyan Pandithar wrote the Tamil musical research work Paanarkaivazhi and his daughter Maragathavalli Duraipandian Pandithar completed part 2 of Karunamirdha Sagaram.